Now what if tomorrow was different? Imagine that you are the sole winner of a ridiculously large lottery drawing. Your bank statement overflows with commas and working for money has become something that you now discuss with past tense. Think about that tomorrow.

Are the two drastically different? If so, why?

The Desire For Money Gives You Tunnel Vision

Their “money blinders” were removed, and a world of possibilities became apparent.

My Grandmother is an avid lottery player, and it’s not uncommon to hear her say things like “My hands are itchy I must be coming into money” or “If I won the lottery, Robert, I would give each of my grandkids something”. Without fail, someone else in the room would chime in with all of the things that they would do if they won the lottery, and of course, the conversation would make me start thinking about what I would do.

I don’t play the lottery. My opinion is that it’s a tax on people who are bad at math, but it is still nice to daydream about a life without the worries of money. As I was mentally compiling a wish list something hit me: Most of my list can be achieved without winning the lottery, and the others could already do a lot of the things that they wanted as well!

It felt like a free-thinking exercise, and as I was watching the people around me talk I couldn’t help but smile. Their “money blinders” were removed, and a world of possibilities became apparent. Some people smiled with excitement, while others fidgeted in their seat at the thought of how life would be. Credit cards…mortgages…car payments…things like these were no longer important. Instead, they were able to focus on living the life they want.

You Don’t Always Need Money To Do What You Want

When tomorrow comes, no one in that room is going to place an offer on that palatial mansion in hills or head down to the Maserati dealership and pick up a brand new Quattroporte, but they certainly can start working towards achieving these goals. For me, I realized just how important it was to succeed in becoming an Internet Entrepreneur.

If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t escape to a remote beach for an extended holiday, but instead, I’d round up some very talented young developers and designers to start a firm that would make waves on the Internet by providing some really fun and useful tools. Unfortunately, I don’t have the funds necessary to hire such people, so I decided to just ask them if they would be interested in partnering up. Much to my surprise, several people, upon hearing my ideas were quite eager to do just that.

Today, I’m living my dream. And while my bank account does not resemble that of a lottery winner, I’m at least doing what I always wanted to. I awake each morning and smile, knowing that I took a chance, and while it isn’t working out exactly as I had planned, I’m living it. That, to me, means everything.

It’s Your Turn. Do it.

So I ask each of you to sit back in your chair, and compile a mental list of things that you would do if money didn’t matter. Now start working on them. If you want to take an exotic trip, open a separate savings account and start saving today. If you want that new body in 2015, then go out and start by taking a walk. The point is to start!

While we can’t deny the fact that money is incredibly important, we can acknowledge that it is certainly not the most important. What would you do if money wasn’t a worry? Good luck, I’m pulling for you.

Truebluetitan is the personal blog of Rob Schultz, a 30-something from Pittsburgh, PA.

6 Comments on “Live Life Like A Lottery Winner

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *